I’d like to take a little different tack here. There are several laws designed to protect the rights of children and students, COPPA, CIPA and FERPA. With those laws in place to protect children, is it legal to take pictures of children in a public place without the parent’s consent? The situation has come up several times where individuals were taking pictures of children at playgrounds. The parents objected but did the courts uphold the parents or the photographers? I understand that different local jurisdictions will have different laws but let’s keep our discussion to general laws in the US.
Let me ask this, would COPPA, CIPA or FERPA cover this situation with photography in a public or private location? Why or why not?